Pirates lose to Cubs for millionth straight time

8-2. 7-2. 7-1. 6-2. 57-3. Whatever. The Pirates continued to follow what's become a standard formula against the Cubs, getting beaten badly by their starting pitching and clobbered by their homer-happy offense, and they lost today 8-2.

The formula was basically pretty similar to that of yesterday's game. The Cubs built a big lead thanks to home runs with runners on base (in this case, a three-run shot by Anthony Rizzo in the fourth and a two-run blast by Addison Russell in the sixth), and the Pirates offense didn't do nearly enough to counter. Today, Jake Arrieta was on the mound, so you couldn't really blame them. He struck out 11 batters and walked two over eight innings, surrendering only a pair of runs on a series of hits by Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco and Francisco Cervelli in the fourth.

That sequence was followed by Arrieta hitting Jung Ho Kang, an HBP Jeff Locke suspected was intentional. Locke hit Miguel Montero later in the game. Oh, and in the midst of all that, Ray Searage got ejected during a mound visit.

Ok, done. Let's just be done with this game. When I was a kid, I went to a basketball camp where I was told to say "clear" every time I missed a foul shot. If you erase something bad from your mind, it's like it didn't happen, and you can free yourself to stay positive. The Cubs won again. The Pirates lost again. Clear!